A Rockford business that decided to stay in town despite a call from the Wisconsin Governor himself to relocate has one problem: it can't hire workers fast enough.More >>

A Rockford business that decided to stay in town despite a call from the Wisconsin Governor himself to relocate has one problem: it can't hire workers fast enough.More >>

ROCKFORD (WREX) -

The Rockford Area Economic Development Council will have a new leader as current President Mike Nicholas is stepping down from his position.

According to a news release sent Thursday morning, Nathan Bryant, President of Development at Spring Creek Development Group, will take over as president. We spoke with Bryant this morning over the phone and he tells us he will take over the position on January 9. 13 WREX will sit down for a one-on-one interview with Bryant on Thursday afternoon.

Spring Creek Development is a real estate investment and land development firm based in Rockford that focuses on industrial and commercial properties.

Nicholas has served as the head of the RAEDC since March of 2014 when he took over for outgoing president Janyce Fadden.

In September 2015, Nicholas and the RAEDC launched a new 5-year strategic plan called "Rockforward 20/20" with goals of 10,500 new and retained jobs, as well as a $925 million investment in the Rockford region.

Nicholas also played a major role in bringing the new 4-year engineering school to Northern Illinois University and Rock Valley College.

In a statement sent out Thursday, RAEDC thanked Nicholas for his three years of service as president, adding that Nicholas "has decided to pursue opportunities in the manufacturing arena that more closely align with his interests and passions. Mike will not be departing until after the first of the year and will remain available to all stakeholders as a consultant for many months. We are grateful to Mike for his efforts over the past years and thankful that he shared his talent and time with us."

The RAEDC says they have been working on a leadership succession plan for after Nicholas left for the past few months. They say they have interviewed a number of candidates for leadership roles within the organization during that time.